Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

The Aluminum Overcast, a WWII era Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress was at Purdue University Airport this weekend. I remember my father speaking of the awesome might of the B-17 during the War. Though I've seen endless movies in which they are memorialized and romanticized a had never seen one. I took this opportunity to explore and board the Aluminum Overcast.

Though the plane seemed quite large from the outside, it was monumental viewing it through the 7-14 mm lens. I began to question it's size when I noticed the diminutive Sperry Lower Ball Turret. I didn't have a tape measure so I recruited little Henry for reverence. The turret must have been a really scary place to be. It was external to the fuselage and could only be entered by the gunner crawling on the ground. My suspicions proved true. See Story of a Ball Turret Gunner, by Lester Schrenk

While processing images I noticed Henry and his dad in numerous photos. Some were quite surreal giving the illusion of the children leading the visitor out of the craft in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind"

...and the heavens and the earth shall shake
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/91846136@N04/9484277412/" title="and the heavens and the earth shall shake bw by MyCrome, on Flickr">"1038" height="542" alt="and the heavens and the earth shall shake bw"></a>

A five engined B-17. It flew from Caldwell-Wright airport in New Jersey, it was a awesome sight to see let down which it did many time starting over the Paterson/West Patersson border. Video link; [ame=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_cg4b2JqMo]A five-engine Boeing B-17G used as a testbed for the Pratt & Whitney T-34 tuboprop engine. - YouTube[/ame]
The quick view of jet fighters at the beginning are Republic F-84Fs.

I went twice. The first time during the public hours, and a second time prior to flight preparation for the 12 who ponied up the $475 for a brief flight. I was not one of those few. Later I'll post a photo of it firing-up. Pretty amazing!